Hank Azaria will perform at The Stone Pony, Nov. 15.
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Nov. 21.
MUSIC
• The Emmy-winning, Tony-nominated actor Hank Azaria, who is best known for his work on “The Simpsons,” will sing Bruce Springsteen songs with his EZ Street Band at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Proceeds will go to Azaria’s Four Through Nine Foundation, which is committed to social justice, education and recovery causes
According to the band’s website, ezstreetnyc.com, “About nine months ago ‘I had the crazy idea that I would like to sing some Springsteen songs to surprise people at my 60th birthday party.’ So Azaria called his son’s former jazz piano teacher, Adam Kromelow, who played in a Genesis tribute band, and asked him if he could put together a band. ‘At first I wasn’t sure I could capture Bruce’s singing voice — talking like him is no problem, I mean, that’s my day job!’
“Azaria got obsessed with singing as exactly like Bruce as he could. He practiced every day for about 6 months, trying songs, abandoning them, circling back, and each time feeling like he was getting closer and closer to actually sounding a lot like his boyhood idol. About 4 months into this obsession, after driving his wife and son nearly insane with his constant ‘scream singing’ around the house, ‘something “unlocked” in my voice — I kind of couldn’t believe how Bruce-like it sounded!’ ”
You can watch Azaria perform Springsteen’s “Glory Days,” below.
• Eric McCormack (co-star of television’s “Will and Grace”) and Laura Bell Bundy (Tony-nominated for “Legally Blonde the Musical”) will team up for a concert at Enlow Recital Hall at Kean University in Hillside, Nov. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The two recently co-starred in the Broadway show, “The Cottage.”
According to the Kean Stage website, this will be a show that “spans Broadway hits, cinematic charm, and chart-topping tunes”
LAURA BENANTI
• Another veteran stage and screen actor will be in concert at the Peak Performances series at The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m.: Laura Benanti, a Tony winner (for “Gypsy”) who was also Tony-nominated for “Swing!,” “Into the Woods,” “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” and “She Loves Me”), and who has also released several albums on her own.
• Drummer Cindy Blackman Santana has toured and recorded with Lenny Kravitz and Santana but also has released many of her own jazz albums, and worked with legendary jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders, Cassandra Wilson and Ron Carter. She will perform at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, Nov. 17 at 3 p.m., as part of TD James Moody Jazz Festival.
• Also as part of The TD James Moody Jazz Festival, pianist Davell Crawford and his quartet will present a free WBGO Children’s Concert titled “A Musical Journey From New Orleans to Newark,” Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. at Newark Symphony Hall. According to promotional material, attendees can “experience the magic of Louis Armstrong, whose revolutionary jazz performances set the world on fire, and Professor Longhair, whose unique blend of R&B, blues and jazz became a hallmark of the New Orleans sound. Learn about the contributions of James Moody, Sarah Vaughan, Jon Batiste and Whitney Houston, whose talents have left an indelible mark on jazz and vocal music.”
Walter Salas-Humara (center) and The Silos.
• The veteran rock band The Silos, led by co-founder Walter Salas-Humara, will perform at The Outpost in the Burbs at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. The band released its latest album, Family, in 2022. Salas-Humara said in a press release: “Over the decades The Silos have morphed time and time again, expanding and expanding, not only the territory we cover, but the membership in our little community. The band is a Family to me, hence the title of the new album.”
The band June Star, featuring singer-songwriter Andrew Grimm and pedal steel guitarist Dave Hadley, will open.
• “She’s wearing rags and feathers from Salvation Army counters,” sang Leonard Cohen in one of his most famous songs, “Suzanne.” And Pat Guadagno has put together a group that he is calling his Rags & Feathers Orchestra — including Arlan Feiles, Maureen McCrink, Christine Elise, The Tango Kid and Barefoot Strings — for his “Hallelujah! The Songs of Leonard Cohen” show, which will take place Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel.
• The Folk Project will present a “Comedy Song Night” featuring the veteran folk duo Buskin & Batteau (David Buskin and Robin Batteau) with Christine Lavin, John Forster and Carla Ulbrich, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at The Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.
The Speranza Theatre Company will present “Mary & Eleanor” through Nov. 23.
THEATER
• The Speranza Theatre Company will present “Mary and Eleanor” at Apple Tree House in Jersey City, Nov. 15-16 and 21-23 at 7 p.m., and Nov. 17 and 23 at 2 p.m. This new play, by Noelle Brower, imagines a 1932 conversation between Mary T. Norton — the first female U.S. Congresswoman from New Jersey — and future First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
FILM
• Actor John Cusack will make an appearance of a screening of the movie “Better Off Dead,” Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. at BergenPAC in Englewood.
Cusack starred as a troubled teenager in this 1985 black comedy.
• The 25th annual Rutgers Jewish Film Festival, which has started and will run through Nov. 21, will present the New Jersey premiere of the documentary “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence,” directed by Varda Bar-Kar, Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. at the Regal Cinemas in New Brunswick. Singer-songwriter Ian and the movie’s director, Varda Bar-Kar will participate in a question-and-answer session after the screening.
The festival will also offer the film online through Nov. 21.
PETER JACOBS
“Jokers,” by Maija Tabaka, will be shown at the “Painting to Scale” exhibition.
VISUAL ARTS
• “Painting to Scale” — an exhibition featuring works by 60 works by artists from Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Russia — opened at The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick on Nov. 13, and will run through Oct. 5. These are large-scale works from The Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union.
“A goal for viewers is that they should become attuned to both the foreign and familiar in their encounters with artworks that, while produced in diverse cultures from Eastern Europe and Eurasia, demonstrate the stakes we all have in self-expression within our own communities,” said exhibition organizer Jane Sharp, in a press release.
OTHER
• This year’s New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take the form of an hour-long special that will be hosted by Danny DeVito, and feature Cher (inducting Meryl Streep), Bobby Cannavale, Elizabeth Moss and Scott Hamilton among its presenters. It will include segments pre-taped at the Hall’s exhibition space at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, and will air on WWOR My9, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 6 p.m.; and on NJ PBS, Dec. 28 at 6 p.m. and Dec. 29 at 10 a.m. It also will stream on the Hall’s YouTube and Facebook channels.
In addition to Streep, this year’s inductees will include Paul Rudd, Kevin Smith, Lesley Gore (posthumously), Gay Talese and Warren Littlefield.
• Playwright and actor Billy Van Zandt (Steven Van Zandt’s half-brother) — who has written a new book, “Because It’s Funny!: The Plays of Billy Van Zandt & Jane Milmore” — will be interviewed by actor Jeff Babey and sign copies of the book at The Brookdale Performing Arts Center at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. Proceeds will benefit Brookdale PAC.
• Gormánuður, a viking festival, will take place at Vasa Park in Hackettstown, Nov. 16 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with music (by Montclair Early Music, the vocal group Avon Faire and others), jousting knights, fire spinning, craft displays, talks, vendors and more. Camping will also be available from 2 p.m. Nov. 15 to noon Nov. 17.
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REVIEWS
“Macbeth” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison. (Through Nov. 17)
“Your Name Means Dream” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through Nov. 24)
“2024 New Jersey Arts Annual: Exploring Our Connections” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through Jan. 5)
“Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography,” presented by Princeton University Art Museum at Art on Hulfish. (Through Jan. 5)
“Kimberly Camp – Cross River: A Parallel Universe” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Jan. 12)
“New Sculpture/New Jersey” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Feb. 2)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 2)
“Bony Ramirez: Cattleya” at Newark Museum of Art. (Through March 9)
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